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A review by aoki_reads
Burden by Matt Duchossoy
5.0
What a bizarre, psychological fever dream. This little novella packs a punch.
”Freedom doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have anyone to share it with.”
Ellen is an overnight mortician at a small mortuary— and what is typically a stable and normal job turns into something more sinister at an alarming rate.
Cadavers are piling up, quickly. All with sunken eyes, mouths slightly agape, and incredibly stiff bodies. And they’re being delivered by two very strange men who seem to know something horrible is going on.
But they decide to leave Ellen in the dark— and the darkness begins to grasp her physically, first. The book amps up and she begins to descend into this dark spiral mentally and emotionally, too.
What we have in Burden is a problematic protagonist. Her life is ripping apart at the seams. With a divorce on the horizon from a broken-hearted husband, a son who wants nothing to do with her and struggles with his own internal battles— and Ellen herself, making awful decisions at the price of her family— our main character begins to lose her sanity and sense of self.
Burden is an incredible example of how a writer can create a bizarre horror story and make it reminiscent of grief, terrible choices, guilt, and desperation. In this hellscape of a town— Ellen is forced to confront her wrongdoing and face her responsibility. And man, do her errors present themselves in the form of a nightmarish alternate reality.
As they say— ”lose your mind to find your soul.”
Confronting the past can be a challenge, and Matt Clarke (pen name Matt Duchossoy) weaves a tale where it can be an absolutely tormenting thing to do. But it must be done for Ellen to redeem herself.
Even if that redemption is just a little too late.
This was such a well-written novella. Packed with great imagery and feelings of losing touch with reality— I felt like I was inside of Ellen’s mind as she quickly began to spiral. But it was a powerful read, too. Bad decisions can sit with people for a lifetime— they can eat at your spirit and destroy your mind. This was well presented in Burden.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ An easy five stars to give, and a quick book that I recommend you dive into.
”Freedom doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have anyone to share it with.”
Ellen is an overnight mortician at a small mortuary— and what is typically a stable and normal job turns into something more sinister at an alarming rate.
Cadavers are piling up, quickly. All with sunken eyes, mouths slightly agape, and incredibly stiff bodies. And they’re being delivered by two very strange men who seem to know something horrible is going on.
But they decide to leave Ellen in the dark— and the darkness begins to grasp her physically, first. The book amps up and she begins to descend into this dark spiral mentally and emotionally, too.
What we have in Burden is a problematic protagonist. Her life is ripping apart at the seams. With a divorce on the horizon from a broken-hearted husband, a son who wants nothing to do with her and struggles with his own internal battles— and Ellen herself, making awful decisions at the price of her family— our main character begins to lose her sanity and sense of self.
Burden is an incredible example of how a writer can create a bizarre horror story and make it reminiscent of grief, terrible choices, guilt, and desperation. In this hellscape of a town— Ellen is forced to confront her wrongdoing and face her responsibility. And man, do her errors present themselves in the form of a nightmarish alternate reality.
As they say— ”lose your mind to find your soul.”
Confronting the past can be a challenge, and Matt Clarke (pen name Matt Duchossoy) weaves a tale where it can be an absolutely tormenting thing to do. But it must be done for Ellen to redeem herself.
Even if that redemption is just a little too late.
This was such a well-written novella. Packed with great imagery and feelings of losing touch with reality— I felt like I was inside of Ellen’s mind as she quickly began to spiral. But it was a powerful read, too. Bad decisions can sit with people for a lifetime— they can eat at your spirit and destroy your mind. This was well presented in Burden.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ An easy five stars to give, and a quick book that I recommend you dive into.